Wrasse swimming upside down in circles

[skr791346]

Purchased a trio of leopard wrasses about four days ago. They were all eating well and visibly looking ok. Today, I noticed one of them is breathing rapidly and swimming upside down in rapid circles. When it does try to swim straight, it starts twirling and also zooming quickly running into ends. Looked for signs on the body for bloating, open sores, slimes, or spots but nothing.

No signs of ammonia in the system and I haven't administered any medication to the system yet. Any idea what she has and what I can use to treat her?

 

[rpeters]

Join the crowd, gonna follow along in case you find something that works. below is a link to my thread with similar issues and the second link is another person with issue. Seems to be trend lately
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/naoko-wrasse-lying-and-breathing-heavy.350752/
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/wrasse-in-qt.354377/

 

[rpeters]

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[Big G]

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[Big G]

Until we hear from someone on #reefsquad , check your nitrate level. Some have suggested there may be a link with this behavior.

 

[Crabs McJones]

Are these in quarantine or in your display? Possible float bladder issue. Any pictures of the fish in question?

 

[cmcoker]

Join the crowd, gonna follow along in case you find something that works. below is a link to my thread with similar issues and the second link is another person with issue. Seems to be trend lately
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/naoko-wrasse-lying-and-breathing-heavy.350752/
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/wrasse-in-qt.354377/

I had a flasher that I bought with twirling going on. The consensus was ich or flukes. Mine had more controlled swimming than your Naoko though. He ended up being a bear to get through qt, but he finally made it to the display and has been doing well.
Here's my thread from last year
https://www.reef2reef.com/index.php?threads/290299/

 

[Greenstreet.1]

I’m no expert but I do love my wrasses.
Leopards most of the time comes in with worms so I would say start with GC to see if that helps but it do sounds like something is going on on the inside so I would start there.

 

[jsker]

Swim bladder, Grind up and feed peas

 

[Humblefish]

Sounds like either a spinal injury or swim bladder issue.

Is the head pointed up or down when the fish swims?

 

[skr791346]

Head was pointed down. It's already dead. Baffled at how it was swimming well and eating for the first few days and perished so quickly within hours of exhibiting weird swimming behavior.

Nitrate is below 10 and it was in a separate quarantine. I dipped it in freshwater minutes after it died but no flukes came off. Remaining leopards are not showing any signs of flashing or spots.

 

[4FordFamily]

This sounds like swim bladder, with spinal injury they don’t turn or spin much, typically. Is the spot where the swimbladder is located swollen?

Sometimes, when wrasse begin to go out, they behave this way. I suspect internal parasites as well, especially given that it’s a leopard wrasse.

 

[4FordFamily]

Head was pointed down. It's already dead. Baffled at how it was swimming well and eating for the first few days and perished so quickly within hours of exhibiting weird swimming behavior.

Nitrate is below 10 and it was in a separate quarantine. I dipped it in freshwater minutes after it died but no flukes came off. Remaining leopards are not showing any signs of flashing or spots.

Sorry for your loss.

Down indicates swim bladder over spinal injury, but it may have been something else as well.

 

[skr791346]

Sorry for your loss.

Down indicates swim bladder over spinal injury, but it may have been something else as well.

Thank you. I didn't notice any abnormal swelling but it could be that the fish is small and not as noticeable. In the future, if I notice similar behaviors on another fish, is there something I can do or add to the system to address it? Or is it already too far gone at that point?

 

[4FordFamily]

Thank you. I didn't notice any abnormal swelling but it could be that the fish is small and not as noticeable. In the future, if I notice similar behaviors on another fish, is there something I can do or add to the system to address it? Or is it already too far gone at that point?

Swim bladder infections can be “lansed” to remove gas, it’s not an easy or fun procedure.

See below:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/venting-a-swim-bladder-black-cap-basslet.219954/

Sometimes they can overcome on their own but not very often...

 

[rpeters]

Down indicates swim bladder over spinal injury, but it may have been something else as well.

What would up indicate?

 

[4FordFamily]

What would up indicate?

Spinal injury. They often behave as if a weight is tied to the end of their tail

 

[ewanho]

Much of the problem is what the leopard wrasse was like before packaged and then how it was shipped.

stores need to tell the supplier to put a few Hand fulls of soft live sand in the bag; this is the wrasses “safe” space when stressed.

i used to order quite a few and found the survival rate much higher if shipped with Live sand.

remember the fish is stressed - taken from paradise to be bagged and put in a small glass box comparatively.

i would recommend you acclimate the wrasses in a shallow 4-6” sand bedded tank, with low blue lighting for 24hrs.

they are temporal meaning they will come out at the same time every morning and go to bed the same time every night. You can set you watch to the accuracy.

they are probably jet lagged and not adjusted to the timezone changes, so go easy on the lighting for a week.
You will meed to wake them up - sift your hand thru the sand gently and pull them Out. If really tired they will go back under. Do this at least three times during the day. If squeamish then use the back of a net very gently.

This has worked for me very well over the years and especially when I had my own store.

 

[madweazl]

Spinal injury. They often behave as if a weight is tied to the end of their tail

Not the case for my last two (Carpenter's and McCosker's) Swimming downward they were a mess but everything else was ok, they just had no movement from anything other than the pectoral fins.

 

[TopSpotter]

This tends to happen often unfortunately with known jumpers like Wrasses, especially if new to the tank or spooked, causing injury either to the spine or internal organs, like the swim bladder. These fish in most cases are perfectly healthy. Prevention by having a flexible netting as lid to prevent injuries; treatment depends on the level of injury and time to treat/heal if possible.